Shipping crates and shipping pallets are widely used to distribute items worldwide. For example, it is estimated that in the US alone, over 500 million shipping pallets are manufactured each year and 1.8-1.9 billion pallets are currently in use. The vast majority of these are constructed from wooden boards to provide a shipping surface upon which items can be placed and secured for transport and distribution. The shipping surface can be attached to one or more supporting legs or beams that provide a sufficient gap below the shipping surface to allow forklift prongs to be positioned underneath the shipping surface so that the pallet can be lifted and repositioned as desired.
One common issue with distributing items is tracking and monitoring the items as they travel from one location to another. For example, identifying each pallet when it departs and/or arrives at a location, as well as entering this data into a system is labor intensive and time consuming. It can also be difficult to determine what is happening to a pallet during transport from one location to another. One proposed solution is to attach electronic devices to the pallets to gather and transmit data during transport. For example, to reduce the time and labor required for tracking each pallet, Radio Frequency Emitting Devices (RFEDs) can be attached to the pallets to electronically track them as they depart and arrive at various locations. A shipping dock can be equipped with sensors that can read signals transmitted by an RFED to detect when a pallet has left or arrived at the shipping dock, and update a tracking system accordingly. As another example, electronic sensors can be attached to a pallet to gather information during shipping, such as location, condition monitoring, weight changes, etc.
Attaching an electronic device to a wooden pallet can present numerous obstacles. For example, due to the nature of shipping, attaching an electronic device to the exterior of a pallet can cause the electronic device to be damaged, removed, displayed, stolen or destroyed during transit. Creating a cavity to embed an electronic device within a wooden beam of a pallet can weaken the board, causing the wooden board to break during shipping. Further, wood naturally absorbs water and moisture, which can also damage, destroy or affect the functioning of an electronic device.
Using plastic in place of wood can alleviate problems caused by moisture, however plastic boards can be costly to manufacture and require a separate mold to create each desired size of plastic board. Embedding electronic devices within plastic requires the use of select electronic devices that can withstand the thermoforming temperatures required to mold plastic together. Accordingly, improvements are needed.